Influence of Marketing Communication Strategies - Essay Example

? Marketing Essay Table of Contents Introduction 3 Brief on Marketing 4 Advertising 5 Phenomena of power shift 8 Influence of marketing communicationstrategies 13 Reference 14 Introduction The world of 21st century is surviving and existing in an era of fast lifestyle and tremendous development. The rapid pace of the lifestyle of the masses is powering a significant momentum of growth in various verticals of the living environment. The high level of connectivity explosion which has happened over the past couple of years because of the tremendous level of penetration of the internet as well as the emergence of various kinds of sophisticated technological gadgets has been the key to influencing and powering a significant amount of revolution. It has to be said that because of this connectivity powered revolution, there has been a faster diffusion of various kinds of trends in various corners of the world. Of what is commonly represented as trends of globalization, it has to be defined that the entire process is based on the lines of the cross cultural influence of various kinds of trends that has emerged from the developing as well as the developed markets. The high levels of connectivity, which is providing two ways communication to various existing as well as evolving markets is acting as a major catalyst in regards to the diffusion of the globalization trends. It is highly relevant to mention that because of the rapid diffusion of the trends associated with globalization, there has been a significant evolution of various kinds of new demands from many new markets around the world. This is triggering the needs for emergence of new and open economies around the world. It is of high importance to mention that this is also helping the global markets that are located in various geographical regions around the world to attain a favourable rate of growth by catering to cross cultural as well as international and transnational demands of products and services. The world because of high levels of connectivity has already transformed itself in to a single and interconnected global marketplace. It has to be said that because of the opening of previously closed economies and emergence of new market based economies from the previously ignored countries like Brazil, Russia, China, Africa and many other smaller nations, the organizations around the world are increasingly trying to enter into the new markets. Also, the current slowdown in the developed markets of the West are also providing significant amount of logic for companies of various sizes to think on the lines of entering new markets to secure future growth. This is automatically resulting in a tremendous spike in levels of competition among the organizations on the lines of communicating the value of products and services to the end consumers of these new markets as well as the markets of established nature. Brief on Marketing The world of the current century promotes a highly competitive environment of doing business. It is a very basic and well known fact in the arena of business that for the companies and corporate organizations to survive in the marketplace, their products and services needs to sell in the desired target audience. The United Kingdom Institute of Marketing has defined marketing as the function which helps in a great way in promoting the trade and employment by assessing the needs of masses and consumers. It is utterly relevant to mention that the process of marketing is a market focused approach where the main goal is to sell the products and services to the intended market segment, while increasing the level of satisfaction of the target consumers and customers (Jain, 2009, p. 38 -39 ). Many people view that marketing is a process of exchange of values in regards to distribution of products and services, while satisfying the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the masses (Young, 2008, p. 4). Marketing in simpler terms represents the combined process related to planning and execution of the concept related to product, places of distribution, modes of promotion, and price. It has to be said that by effectively designing a strategy that satisfies the needs and wants of the consumers in the marketplace, the marketers always focus on the process of value generation and value delivery for the desired target audience. Marketing can be of diverse forms. It can be in the nature of institutional marketing, consumer marketing (Kotler and Keller, 2008, p. 124). However, with the emergence of new kinds of communication and value delivery platforms, today, the marketing activity happens in the virtual world as well. While marketing function talks and explains in an elaborate manner about the process of value creation, value communication, value delivery and value capture by focusing on the four Ps of the marketing mix, yet a lot of strategic calculations also accompany the entire process. It has to be said that in the course of implementing a marketing activity, significant amount of focus is also given on the process of segmentation, targeting and positioning. Advertising The 4P’s of marketing are product, place, promotion and price, which can be related with the process of value creation, value distribution, value communication and value capture (Jaray, 2005, p. 1). The process related to promotion increasingly discusses the issues of communicating the values of products and services to the intended target audience. It is important to mention that the basic pillars of foundation related to effective marketing communication are audience, message and the media. While talking in an elaborate manner, about the three pillar of effective marketing communication, it has to be taken into consideration that the consumers are natural human beings, who increasingly focus on the process of collection of relevant information in regards to their needs and wants. This extensive process of collection of relevant information results in the process of evolution of various alternative choices for the consumers (Dahlen and et.al, 2010, p. 5). In the recent times, the various , p. modes of promotion are highly congested by various small as well as well established brands that are trying their level best to communicate the value of their products and services to the target audience in the most exclusive and effective manner. It is of high relevance to mention that the process of promotion falls within the territory of advertising which again falls within the domain of integrated marketing communications. The integrated marketing communications (IMC) increasingly talks about the culmination of three key components like concept, process and synergy. Talking in regards to the concept, it has to be said that the focus is more on the issues of highlighting and communicating the right message to the end consumers as well as the various stakeholders of the organization. The factor of process draws attention to the issues regarding the segmentation of the customers as well as the various kinds of media that will be used to communicate the intended target message to the desired target audience for the purpose of effective value communication. Finally, talking in regards to synergy, it has to be said that the concentration level is directed towards the process of maintaining a coordination of the various modes of marketing communication, so that the resultant effect and influence is comparatively greater and much higher in nature (Chitty and et.al, 2011, p. 6). While discussing the basic roles associated with the integrated marketing communication, it has to be said that the key features are multiple in nature. The first and the most important primary role comprises of identifying the right target audience for the purpose of pitching the product or service. The second role comprises of the process of identification of the right channels of delivering the intended target message so that the amount of effectiveness of the communicating media is high. The third point of focus comprises of creating an effective synergy in regards to communication of values. The other roles of integrated marketing communications comprises of influencing the behaviour of consumers falling within the intended target market as well building effective relationships with the customers for the purpose of attaining significant and effective growth of the business. The process of integrated marketing communication, which includes the promotion factor of the marketing mix, plays a major role in regards to the creation of brand for a particular product or service in the market. The brand factor for a product or service helps in a great way in regards to the communication of values of the product or service to the desired target audience. It also helps in a great way in regards to effective communication of value of the product or services in a much more prominent and competitive manner as compared to other products and services that are available in the marketplace. Phenomena of power shift The masses and individuals of today live in a highly connected and integrated world. The high level of internet powered connectivity has played a major role in regards to transforming the global marketplace into a single and connected entity. Because of this tremendous level of integration, the markets are witnessing a tremendous level of globalization. Talking on the same lines, it is of high importance to mention that the development and emergence of various kinds of technological gadgets like the I-pads, Smartphones etc are creating an online presence of the consumers in the virtual media. It has to be said that the consumers of today’s date are mostly cash rich and time poor. Also, the evolution of various emerging economies from manufacturing hubs to a zone that promote growth on the shoulders of service sector is resulting in the process of emergence of a sophisticated lifestyle of the masses. It has to be said that the consumers in an attempt to maintain their individual synchronization with the sophisticated lifestyle are focusing and simultaneously concentrating on promoting themselves into a single and well connected virtual media. Consumers of both the developed as well the developing countries are spending significant amount of time in the online media as well as the various social networking sites of domestic as well as international fame. This high amount of presence of the masses in the social and online medium is resulting in the process of rapid evolution as well as faster dispersion of various kinds of global trends among the consumers all over the world. This is resulting in the creation of the needs of the masses, which is in return triggering a demand for products and service in the marketplace. The void that is being created in markets around the world are often filled up by the companies and organizations, who look forward to cater to the needs of emerging markets while securing their own individual growth prospects of the future. Thus, it can be said that the marketplace of a specific geographic area becomes saturated with multiple companies who are increasingly offering similar kinds of homogenous products to the same set of target audience and customers. Here in arises the effect of consumer behaviour. It has to be said that the consumer behaviour is directly linked with the influence it suffers on the lines of cultural, social, personal as well as psychological factors (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008, p. 123). While merging the factors of influence of the consumer behaviour with regards to the sequence of decision making of the consumers, it has to be said that the decision making process comprises of need recognition, search for information, evaluation of alternatives, purchase of the product or service as well as post purchase analysis (Lamb and et.al., 2011, p. 190 ; Khan, 2007, p. 3). Source: Lamb and et.al., 2011, p. 190 It is highly relevant to mention that the online connectivity that is being brought forward by the high penetration of the internet as well as various sophisticated connectivity enabling gadgets has resulted in the process of faster decision making process of the consumers. Also, the multiple numbers of companies offering the similar kinds of product and service based offering is resulting in the process of development of large number of substitute for the buyers. Hence, the shift of power has happened from the sellers of various brands to the buyers, who are basically consumers located in various markets around the world. Talking more on these lines, it can be said that the consumer behaviour of the masses is also attaining a tremendous shift because of technological development. It has to be mentioned that the field of technology is changing every day. As a result, the technological advancements are paving the ways for better and more sophisticated high level gadgets which helps in a great way in the process of perceiving of communication related information amongst the consumers. It needs to be mentioned that the high levels of research related to science and technology has helped in various ways in paving the road for reduction of the prices of theses technological gadgets. It needs to be mentioned that the NFC (near field communication) chips and transmitters that are emerging in the markets of the developed regions in the recent times, has played a major role in the process of bringing revolution in the process of value communication to the consumers (Dahlstrom and Edelman, 2013). By increasingly involving the touch and tap technology in the lives of the consumers, the marketers today are concentrating more on the issues of successful and effective on demand marketing. Talking more enthusiastically about the issue of on demand and smart touch and tap based marketing, it can be said that the virtual forums and digital mediums are helping in the process of better positioning of the information that are required by the consumers in regards to making themselves aware about the value of their required products and services. Influence of marketing communication strategies Since the majority of the masses all over the world are becoming more and more technology friendly in nature, it has to be said that the process of communicating of the value of products and services to the consumers are increasingly getting reformed with every passing day. There are multiple steps that are associated with the process of formulating a marketing communication strategy. The first step comprises of assessing the opportunities of marketing communication while the next step comprises of the analyzing the resources to be used. The third step talks about the objectives while the fourth step talks about developing of alternative strategies. The final step is to assign the various tasks to the individuals (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2007, p. 392). In general terms, the various marketing communication strategies comprise of using the push and pull strategy, trade promotion, buying allowance as well as aggressive advertising (Egan, 2007, p. 118). The masses of today are very busy, mostly because of their high powered hectic life schedules. Since, they are increasingly suffering from considerable shortage of free time, the consumers prefers to spend a considerable amount of time on the social media to keep up with their social circle, as that helps in acting as a stress buster. Marketers who increasingly try to communicate the value of their products and services, to this group of technology friendly consumers often focus on communicating the value of their products to the social media. For the purpose of communicating the value in the social media, it has to be said that the marketers obviously needs to concentrate on spreading online word of mouth (WOM) marketing as well as demand creation through the usage of pull strategies. Reference Hawkins, D. and et.al, 2008. Consumer Behavior. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Kotler, P., and Keller, K.L., 2008. Framework For Marketing Management, 3/E. India: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. Chitty,W., and et.al, 2011. Integrated Marketing Communications.USA: Cengage Learning. Young, F.C., and Pagoso, C.M., 2008. Principles of Marketing. Rex Printing Company. Kotler, P., and Armstrong, G., 2008. Principles of Marketing,12/e. India: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. Czinkota, M.R., and Ronkainen, I.A., 2007. International Marketing, 8/e. USA: Thompson Higher Education. Egan, J., 2007. Marketing Communications. London: Thomson Learning. Lamb, C.W., and et.al., 2011. Essentials of Marketing. USA: South Western Cengage Learning. Khan, M., 2007. Consumer Behaviour. New Age International. Jain, A., 2009. Principles of Marketing. Delhi: FK Publications. Dahlen, M., and et.al, 2010. Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. UK: John Wiley And sons. Jaray, S., 2005. 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